WAUSAU – To the uninitiated, it can look like the third-base coach at a baseball game is swatting flies.

In the moments before a pitcher delivers the baseball, the coach’s motions can look something like this:

The right hand moves down the front of the right thigh, moves up to tap the bill of the cap and the chin, touches the elbow of a bent left arm before it slides across the chest, grabs the right earlobe and returns to the right thigh.

To some in the stands, the series of silent movements likely makes little sense. But for the batter and the baserunner, these are coded instructions on how to approach the next pitch.

Coaching signals, an intricate communication system of gestures, has been a staple to deliver messages on baseball and softball fields.

“It can look very complicated,” said Wayne Sankey, baseball coach for Stevens Point Pacelli High School and the Plover American Legion teams. “You are not just talking about what goes on with third base (coaches) but we have signs for defensive formations or (base) coverage and pickoff plays, too.

“It can seem like a lot, but it becomes second nature (to the players), especially by the time they are juniors and seniors because we do it so much.”

Signals must be simple, undetectable

Coaches use signs to tell a baserunner to steal or a batter to bunt, to signal that a hit-and-run is on or to take a pitch.

The key is to make the signs simple enough for your team to understand, but still concealed enough so opponents can’t easily pick up on them.

Third-base coaches will go through a series of decoy signs, for example, touching the ear, swiping a forearm or chest and then touching the face in a sequence that means nothing to the batter. But the coach’s next move could be tapping the bill of the baseball cap — the team's indicator that the following sign will be the instruction.

There are indicators that can call off a play as well. The first-base coach also can play a part in relaying signals and delivering an indicator for a baserunner.

“We keep (the signs) simple, mainly for me. I’ve got to remember them, too,” joked Tom Magnuson, who has coached the Wausau Legion baseball team for 35 seasons. “I think the book ‘Ball Four’ had a story about Preston Gomez, a coach who had a separate set of signs for every player. I can’t imagine trying to remember all of that.

“We have one set of signs and keep it pretty basic. But you have to put a little bit of confusion in there — just hopefully not enough that it confuses your own players as well.”

Manitowoc Lutheran baseball coach Paul Durkee said he will install a few basic signs at the start of the year and then add more to the repertoire as the season goes on. How many signs the team has can depend on the experience level of the team.

“Last year we had eight seniors and had been playing varsity since they were sophomores,” Durkee said. “They were fine to go and we had every (signal) in right away. Being a veteran group can be a difference along with what you might call the team’s baseball smarts.”

Greenwood baseball coach Kent Hinker has a similar approach. He said he has just a handful of signs and he keeps his sign system relatively simple. He adds a few signs as the season progresses.

“I try to keep it that simple with the kids, otherwise I feel they are doing too much thinking and nothing good ever seems to come from that,” Hinker said. “We go over the signals and practice those same few plays over and over. My thought is, ‘Keep it all small and simple and it seems you are more apt to succeed.’ ”

Sign-stealing is part of the game

Trying to break an opponent’s code has been a part of baseball for decades. The effort to do so in a high school game might not be as difficult as at other levels of the sport, but if a tell is there, teams will try to take advantage of the opportunity.

It’s why coaches will change their signs during the season, especially against a conference foe or an opponent they have faced a number of times in the season. It’s also why catchers will change their signals to a pitcher if a runner is on second base.

“We’ve had teams that come and scout us a couple times (during the season) and then play us a couple times as well,” Sankey said. “If (that familiarity) is a factor, I will make some changes. If we notice something (with an opponent’s signs) we will try and take advantage. Sometimes it will upset some (teams) but then to me, the opponents need to do a better job of relaying their signs.

“It depends on the game. If it is a nonconference doubleheader, we will sometimes talk to (opposing) coaches and say, ‘Hey, your catcher is really showing.’ Sometimes you will try and help other teams out. But there are times you are looking for every advantage you can.”

In Marathon, the visitors' dugout is along the third-base line, which gives opposing teams a good view of Raiders coach Steve Warren and the signs he delivers.

“I can hear just about everything being said in that (third-base) dugout,” Warren said. “If I get an inkling that they have one of my signs or even if they are just guessing, I have a sign to take (the call) off ... and there are times when you tweak (the signs), especially when you are facing the same team multiple times in a year.”

Hinker said his system has been cracked by an opponent more than once, but he hasn’t changed his approach.

“There is that card-playing aspect (of sign-stealing) in the game,” Hinker said. “There are times players have told me, ‘Coach, they know our signs.’ My thought has always been, ‘They might think we are stealing or know it. Can they stop it?’

“You frustrate a team more when you succeed even when they know something is coming.”

Wristbands a new sign delivery system

Greenwood softball coach Wayne Fleischmann yells out a color and a number from the third-base box instead of delivering signs in the traditional manner. The batter and baserunner then look down at wristbands that help them decode the instruction.

Think of it as similar to the play-call wristband that quarterbacks use in football. It is a system that is gaining popularity on the baseball and softball diamonds. Fleischmann said his team is in its third year of using the system and Appleton North softball coach Michael Mullen said his program uses the system as well.

Fleischmann said the switch to the wristbands was to eliminate some of the trouble with the traditional sign system.

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Wayne Sankey, left, the Pacelli High School and Plover Ameircan Legion baseball coach, said coaching signs in the sport can seem complicated from the stands but become second nature to the players eventually.(Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin file photo)

“Kids would tell me, ‘I missed the sign or the indicator.’ Now going with the color code and number system, you can’t really say you missed (the sign),” Fleischmann said. “They don’t have to memorize (the signs), it’s all right there in front of them.

“It’s absolutely been a (more efficient) system. You get some younger kids come into the program who are adjusting to the (high school) game and trying to learn your signals as well. It can be a lot for them to learn when they first come in, so I have tried to eliminate some of what I can and let them focus on the game.”

There is another advantage.

“It’s pretty hard for a team to steal (signs) unless you lose a (play) card,” Fleischmann said.

On the same page

Whatever system is used to relay the message, the key to success is the coaches and players being on the same page.

“The biggest thing is the kid (at the plate) needs to keep looking at the coach the whole time (signs) are being delivered,” Sankey said. “They can give away if a sign is on or off or what the sign is by looking away as soon as it is flashed.”

Teams have a preset indicator for players to acknowledge the coach’s call — which could be a tap of the batting helmet or somewhere on the uniform.

Still, there are times when a sign is missed or misunderstood and that can lead to a bad outcome.

Magnuson recalled the time it happened to him while he was playing high school baseball for Jack Torresani, a member of the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and namesake of Wausau East's field.

Torresani’s sign for a squeeze play was to yell out, “Win Brockmeyer is in the crowd,” in a nod to the Wausau High School football coach.

“I was batting in a (Wausau) East-West game and the crowd was so loud that I didn't hear him yell that out,” Magnuson said. “So the squeeze was on and I had no idea. The pitcher goes into his windup and out of the corner of my eye, I get a glimpse of the runner coming down from third base.

“At the last second, I was able to throw the bat out and dribble the ball just in front of the plate and the run scored. The runner is pretty lucky that I didn’t swing away on that pitch.”